beneath the purest air

The anthem of Santa Cruz has a phrase people love to recall. The elegant lyric says that Santa Cruz resides beneath the purest air in all of the Americas. Also referred to by locals as "el paraíso terrenal" (terrestrial paradise), we are most definitely in a beautiful place. The secret to the beauty of this place is the Cruzeños themselves. They are welcoming, kind, passionate, hard working folks. 

The pastry you see to the right is a traditional Bolivian breakfast food called a salteña. (sahl-TEH-nyah) It is a thin dough pocket brushed with an egg wash containing a delightful, juicy filling of chicken, vegetables and broth that has a surprising touch of sweetness permeating the savory flavor profile. We also get to enjoy tiny bananas, locally referred to as "guineos" (gee-NEH-ohs), fried plantains, papaya and standard bananas. The juice I had with breakfast was guanabana. Pronounce it however you want. You can tell it's guanabana 'cause of how it is. lol Cathy sliced up a few mangoes yesterday to see if any of them were ripe yet. God bless that woman. There were indeed a few ripe ones, so I got to enjoy one of God's richest blessings on this earth, the mango. I don't think one can overestimate the impact of mangoes. Now hear me out. World peace is a noble aspiration and all, but if we could just get more mangoes to everyone on this earth, I think the peace thing would sort itself out. It's just an idea.

Last night we had our third Cumbre session. It is impossible to convey all the ways God is working in this conference. I guess maybe one way to say it is that it has been a time dense with the Spirit of God. He has been working in and through us. The team He drew together for this conference is made up of gringos from Washington, Michigan, missionaries and Bolivian believers, a truly diverse group; however, there is a synergy to the working relationships that can only be described as Spirit-filled. Adam spoke first last night; he spoke on the theology of worship. We had planned to do the second half of the session in an interview format where I would ask Jeff Johnson questions about the techniques and heart of playing guitar in a worship ministry that has multiple guitars. Well, a few hours before the session began, we got word that people had been asking for a Q&A, so we thought we'd throw that in between parts A and B of the session. What actually happened was that the Q&A session was very engaging and went on long enough that it ate up the rest of the time. One of our primary mindsets that we talked about in the months leading up to the Cumbre is flexibility. I am so glad that we flexed. I feel like we ended up with a session that served the worship leaders and volunteers attending the conference; that, my friends, is a win. There is so much more to tell, but I'll sign off for now. Thanks again for your faithful prayers!